The Girl On Fire
Praise Leave your praise here please, and if you wanna subscribe, leave me a way to reach you here! Chapter 1 Bonds of rank transend Earthly plane of existence Two opposites clash Alissa I watch as the young girls twirl around the room, imperial blue silk ribbons surround them. I stand next to my King, the Son of Heaven, Master of All Peoples. It is not permitted for anyone outside of the royal family to know his true name, as names hold power over people. I have only ever know him as King. I remember when I was once one of these girls, Children of the Harem they are called, both now, and those short few years ago. They have been dancing for hours, and will continue to do so long after I leave for my lessons. I sigh. My lessons are always difficult, but especially during my Moon Cycles. My muscles are already swore, and the lessons do not help to easy the pain. Never mind the headaches. My head tips back as I rub my temples. It feels as though someone has rammed my skull with a blacksmith's hammer. It wouldn't have been the first time. My head snaps back into place when, from the dancing Children, a startled yell rings out. I see a small, dark headed girl on the floor. She has fallen, the poor thing. It was the first time that such an incident has happened in recent times, and it will be the last for a long while. It will also be the last time the girl ever dances again. "What is your name?" King asks her. His voice is deep and husky. His blue eyes darken with a sort of rage that I rarely see. It is the rage of someone who has been gravely disrespected. "Phoebe, sire." Her voice is surprisingly husky like her father, but light at the same time. Most likely a trait of her mother, whichever of the concubines that may be. Unlike with the rage that had filled her father's eyes, fear darkens Phoebe's blue eyes. Fear for what she knows must come. "And how old are you?" King asks his daughter. "Fourteen." King nods his head. He sits upon his throne for what can only be several short minutes, but for what feels like several long hours in contemplation before: "You shall be executed in ten days time for your crimes. Now leave me." Tears run down the girl's face as she exits the room. Before she leaves, she turns to look at me. The sadness in her eyes fractures the wall that I have built to stop my feelings from interfering with my duties as the Sun Apprentice. Her eyes beg for me to help her, but there is nothing I can really do, nothing that wouldn't put me in the same place at least. I can't bare to meet her gaze, and look away. I do not not see, but rather hear, the door close behind the girl. The rest of the Children of the Harem dance for three more hours before I have to leave. I whisper the formal goodbye into King's ear, then bow to both my ruler and the Children, and walked out of the parlor, making sure to never have my back to King. When I am out of the room, I slump against the door. Why did that girl fall? She should have been more careful, but now it is too late, she is doomed. I take a deep breath, and stand up, straightening my Formal Tunic. I take another deep breath, and walk down the main hallway, turning to the right when I reach a corner, until, after taking several shortcuts, I reach my rooms. I open my door, which I never lock, and enter the small receiving parlor. I shrug off my royal blue tunic, I hate wearing it, but it is law that whoever stands in the same room as King must were the royal color. I hate all of the Royal Laws, but there is nothing I can do about that, not yet anyway. I move to the next of my rooms, my dressing room, and open my chest of drawers. Thank the gods that I am mostly flat chested, I would hate to wear the binding cloths during my already difficult and painful lessons. I pick out the cleanest of my training tunics, a bright red affair with gold trimmings. I then proceed to pull it over my head, the tunic hangs loosely off of my small body. I nab a bright orange sash, one that belongs to one of my few ball gowns, and tie it around my waist. There, I think, that looks quite nice. I go to leave my rooms, when I notice the scroll that is on my bed. "Oh." I whisper. Sitting down on the straw mattress, I pick up the scroll, plucking the wax seal off - which I promptly throw to a darkened corner of the room - and began to read. Alissa, I have been called away for three days. Be sure to practice your forms twice a day, at sunrise, and at sunset. I'll be back as quick as I can to continue your training. Gregory Trenton I open my eyes. I don't need any windows, not that there are any in this pitch-black room, to know that clouds cover the moon tonight. I release the breath I have been holding, and can hear a faint wet noise. Yep, my lung has been pierced. Just dandy, with that and the moon being covered, this is going to take a while. Will I finish in time? I shift my head, barely missing the ax blade that is stationed five centimeters from my neck. Rodrigo has done a bang-up job this time, hasn't he? First I will have to remove the heavy chains that nearly crush my rib cage, or, would it be better to remove the needle-point knife that is going to eventually spear my heart? Or maybe the short sword that pierces my right lung? Definitely the short-sword. I shift my arms, which for the love of Brung aren't weighted down by chains, bringing the left one to the handle of the short sword. I then shift my right arm so it is in position to cup the wound. Hopefully the clouds aren't too thick to disrupt this magic. I quickly pull the short sword out of my abdomen, while simultaneously summoning some of the mysterious "fog" that my mentor has taught to me so I am better able to heal myself. Now it is time for the needle-point knife that will shred my heart in a matter of seconds. I repeat the earlier process, but this time switching arms. Now that I am free of these complications, I can start working on these chains. I close my eyes, trying to draw in as much lunar energy as possible. Dealing with the two blades has taken too long, I have spent four hours on removing them and healing myself. When I have drawn as much lunar energy as I will be able to tonight, I open my eyes. I concentrate all of the energy I have gathered into my palms, making a tiny blue-white flame sizzle into existence. I hold the flame to a section of the chain, boy is thing going to take forever. After several more hours, precious hours, the chain has finally melted enough for me to remove it and stand up. My naked body glistens with my own blood, not that any of my wounds remain. I look around for a change of cloths, finding none. "It seems Master forgot to give me a change of cloths." I say out load, my voice gravelly from disuse, "That will just make this a little more difficult." I sigh. I noticed while the chain was melting that there is no obvious door in or out of this room, my master has really put some thought into this test. I walk around the room, running my hands along the way. After I have gone around five or six times, I stop near the only still-burning torch. I heave the massive tree limb from its container, and walk to the center of the room. I begin another time consuming spell, one that will take at least an hour and a half. An hour and half that I do not need to spend trying to get out of this ro0om if I am to make it on time. When I have finished, a full-gorwn tree rests in the middle of the room. If I'm lucky, which I'm usually not, the original tree won't be too far away from the city. I place my palm on the slightly-warm bark of the newly made tree. I softly speak a passage spell, and close my eyes. Half way though my earlier transmutation, the clouds that had blocked the moon and its power from me lifted, so I should have plenty of power. When I open my eyes, and find myself outside of the Royal Palace. For once I am lucky, and my master didn't import the branch from some island off the coast. That would have make me gravely late. But there is still one last obstacle to over come, finding myself some suitable cloths. Chapter 2 Rain falls from the sky As thunder cries and flashes Hope born from darkness Alissa I rise my hands so they are parallel with each other, both reaching up for the sky, or, more specifically, the sun. My stomach hurts very badly, though I'm not sure whether it is because of my Moon Cycles, or my lack of not eating lunch. It's probably both. As the sun sinks below the horizon, I feel a slightly warm, buzzing energy fill my body. I have been waiting several hours for this feeling, as I know it will dilute the pain of my Moon Cycles, my womanly energies. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, relishing this sense of power. I can not fathom how I lived without this... This... This power. I don't know how I ever survived as a Harem Child. As the final light of the sun faded, the buzzing energy going along with it, I dropped my arms and sighed. I turn when I hear a "Meow!" from behind. Apollo, my dark ginger cat, stares up at me. He continues to meow at me, so I bend down to give him a scratch under his chin. He purrs. "Whose a good little kitty?" I murmur in his ear as I pick him up. He will only let myself pick him up, it's one of the few things that make me feel special, aside from being the Sun Apprentice. Apollo looks up at me, and his deep green eyes say "Me!" The thought makes me smile. He nuzzles the crook of my arm, and licks me with his rough tongue. "Stop that, it hurts." I smile and him, and he licks me again. I walk with him in my arms back to my room. I pass through the receiving parlor, and head to the door on the left, the one that leads to a small study, which contains a desk, three bookshelves, and several chairs. Beyond this room is my bathing room, which then leads to my bedroom. When I pass through all of these rooms, Apollo in hand, and reach my bedroom, I summon a small fire in my right hand, the one not carrying Apollo. My bedroom is windowless, and, unless I am currently in the room, in which case I always have a candle burning, and in complete darkness. Apollo jumps out of my grasp, scared of the fire. He runs and hides behind my bed. "Apollo!" I call after him, "No need to be scared." I reach of a candle, with my left hand of course, and hold the fire to the wick, which quickly catches. I extinguish the flame in my hand, and, using the candle to light others of its kind. My room is soon filled with a warm yellow glow. Coming tonight Chapter 3 Coming soon Chapter 4 Coming soon Chapter 5 Coming soon Chapter 6 Coming soon Chapter 7 Coming soon Chapter 8 Coming soon Chapter 9 Coming soon Chapter 10 Coming soon Chapter 11 Coming soon Chapter 12 Coming soon Chapter 13 Coming soon Chapter 14 Coming soon Chapter 15 Coming soon Chapter 16 Coming soon Chapter 17 Coming soon Chapter 18 Coming soon Chapter 19 Coming soon Chapter 20 Coming soon Category:Sun And Moon Saga